One of the most dynamic acts on the road today, ekoostik hookah is the nucleus of a growing family drawn to its lucid, improvisational treatment of psychedelic rock 'n' roll, blues, funk, jazz and bluegrass layered with rich harmonies.
Their newest album Seahorse (their 6th release) is a culmination of the music the band has made together over the last 10 years.
The Ohio-based band began jamming during weekly open-mic nights in 1991 when vocalist/keyboardist Dave Katz, lead guitarist Steve Sweney and bassist Cliff Starbuck had full-time gigs with popular bands. The ensemble quickly found a following and began this odyssey. Drummer Eric Lanese, who joined in 1993, Ed McGee, who assumed singing, songwriting and rhythm guitar duties in 1996, and the newest member, Johnny "Starcat" Polansky on percussion round out the band's line-up.
The sextet typically travels four nights a week, playing in more than 30 states at venues including New York's Knitting Factory, Chicago's House of Blues, Cleveland's Nautica Stage, Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, Boulder's Fox Theater and San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. The band's nationwide success has recently earned them a spot on the list of the top 50 performing artists in North America as ranked by Pollstar magazine's Concert Pulse. ekoostik hookah played its first international shows in June 1999 in Negril, Jamaica with several hundred fans attending from the United States. They will be returning to Negril in April 2002.
Though intense live energy fuels this band, hookah fans have snatched nearly 100,000 copies of its six releases by Acoustic Recordings, the band's own record label: Under Full Sail (1991), Dubbahbuddah (1994), Double Live (1996), Where the Fields Grow Green (1998), Sharp in the Flats (1999), and Seahorse (2001).
Hookahville, the band's home-thrown festival featuring two nights of music and camping in Ohio's quiet green hills, has been called by fans the best music festival campout in the nation. The biannual happening began in 1994 as a camp-out in Dave Katz and band manager Jeff Spencer's backyard. Growing steadily, attendance for Hookahville Spring 2000 exceeded 16,000. The festival is managed by the band's own production company Acoustic Productions, Inc. Hookahville's "no hassles or bad attitudes" playing environment that has allowed the band to share the stage with many fine live acts such as Willie Nelson, Little Feat, Ratdog, CPR with David Crosby, Arlo Guthrie, David Grisman, Dickey Betts, Dr. John, among others.
Since their birth ekoostik hookah has independently handled every aspect of its growth.
